Spotify Joe Rogan.
Conservative commentator Mark Dice called out Joe Rogan in a video accusing him of lying about whether Spotify has censored the popular Joe Rogan Experience podcast after the host signed an exclusive deal with the streaming service that has been reported to be worth more than $100 million. Dice said Rogan, who has often spoken out against “cancel culture” and silencing voices on social media, admitted that he lied about the control Spotify has over his show.
Dice said in his March 29, 2021, YouTube video, “Joe Rogan accidentally let it slip out that he lied to his audience and Spotify shareholders that Spotify wasn’t censoring his show. You may recall that he signed a $100-million-dollar deal with them last year and then when his podcast archive got transferred over to Spotify, some of the fans noticed that there were a few episodes, actually several dozen of them that were mysteriously missing and it just so happened to be episodes from certain controversial guests that had been banned from YouTube, Twitter and other social media platforms.”
Dice was highlighting comments Rogan made on his podcast in February while talking about the move to Spotify. Rogan said, “There’s a few episodes they didn’t want on their platform that I was like ‘OK, I don’t care.'”
Rogan has said on his podcast that Spotify hasn’t told him who he can and cannot have on his show, and said they don’t care what he talks about. “They don’t give a f*** man,” he said on a February podcast episode with comedian Fahim Anwar. “They haven’t given me a hard time at all.”
Some Rogan listeners have expressed displeasure since he moved in 2020 from posting his podcast episodes on YouTube, Apple and other services to only posting them on Spotify. Fans on social media have complained about the quality of the guests and technical issues, including the video player and lagging or buffering issues. Rogan has said on recent episodes that Spotify is working quickly to create the best possible product and he said he is excited about where things will end up.
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Dice Said Rogan ‘Gave a BS Story’ About Why Some Episodes Weren’t Moved to Spotify
Dice said after Rogan moved to Spotify, he initially said there was a glitch that caused some of the episodes to not move to the streaming service, and that other episodes were his “favorites” and he wanted them to stay on Spotify. Dice highlighted episodes that aren’t available with white nationalist Stefan Molyneux, far-right activist Charles C. Johnson, Proud Boys founder Gavin McInnes, alt-right troll Milo Yiannopoulos and InfoWars conspiracy theorist Alex Jones.
Dice said, “Spotify actually did censor dozens of his episodes. Joe gave a BS story about it not wanting to bite the hand that feeds him, trying to brush it under the rug, and months later, accidentally let it slip out, because when you’re doing an interview, you’re talking with a guest, having a great conversation with a friend of yours, sometimes you forget that there are cameras there and it slipped out that yeah, Spotify didn’t want those episodes there, they dumped them down the memory hole.”
Dice said Rogan, “lied to cover up for things that a company that you work with or work for did” to him.
Rogan Said He Spotify Is Not Telling Him Who He Can Have on His Show, & His Episode With Alex Jones Was a Test to Prove That
Rogan said on his podcast in February that Spotify did have a few episodes they didn’t want to move onto their platform when they signed the deal with him, “But other than that, terms of what I do in the future, the big test was having Alex Jones on. A lot of people were like ‘They’re telling Joe Rogan what he can do and what he can’t do’ and I was like, ‘they’re not. They’re not. And let’s show you.’ Alex Jones and Tim Dillon was like one of my favorite podcasts I’ve done.”
That podcast episode in October 2020 generated some controversy when it appeared on Spotify and then disappeared, sparking conspiracy theories that someone at Spotify had taken it down. But Rogan addressed the issue on Instagram, saying it was a glitch, “The episode that was uploaded to Spotify had some cache issues, and it wasn’t working correctly on some devices so the engineers had Jamie re-upload it with the same date, thinking it would fix the problem but still play for everyone like it was never missing.”
Rogan said on that podcast episode with Jones and Dillon, “Listen, me on the outside reading these f****** articles, like ‘Oh my God, Spotify is censoring Rogan. Spotify has said nothing. Listen to me, nothing. They haven’t said anything to my manager, they haven’t said anything to me. They’ve said nothing. They’ve apparently had meetings. But they have a lot of meetings. They have meetings about all sorts of shows. They have meetings about the music they have.”
Rogan added, “in terms of them silencing me, zero. There’s been nothing.”